The Detroit Lions' Darius Slay, Kansas City Chiefs' Cairo Santos, Oakland Raiders' Derek Carr, New England Patriots' Tom Brady and Baltimore Ravens' Elvis Dumervil each had the strength to come through during a key moment and contribute to wins during Week 12.
Thanks to those strong performances, each player is up for Castrol EDGE Clutch Performer of the Week honors. This is a deeper look at the significance of those conquests.
Cairo Santos, Kansas City Chiefs
Strong stats to consider:
» The Chiefs are 6-1 in their last seven games.
» The Chiefs' Justin Houston and Broncos' Von Miller both had three sacks. It's the 15th game where a player on each team had three or more sacks.
Power of the moment: With the clock ticking down in OT, Santos nailed the game-winning field goal ... sort of. It banked off the upright but still went through. The Chiefs are currently the fifth seed in the AFC.
Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
Strong stats to consider:
» The Raiders are 9-2 for the first time since 2000. They've started 9-2 or better in eight previous seasons. They advanced to the Conference Championship in all of those seasons. They advanced to two Super Bowls out of those eight seasons, winning one of them (Super Bowl XI).
» Carr's current passer rating on the season (100.5) would be the second-highest single-season rating by a Raiders QB. The highest belongs to Ken Stabler (103.4) in 1976. The Raiders won the Super Bowl that year.
Power of the moment: Carr had to leave the game after dislocating the pinky finger on his throwing hand in two places. While he was gone, the Panthers dominated the third quarter to take the lead 32-24. Carr returned and helped the Raiders score 11 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 35-32. Carr is not only making plays late, but he's making a strong case for MVP.
Darius Slay, Detroit Lions
Strong stats to consider:
» Slay's INT was the first INT this season by any player in a tie game with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter.
» The Lions' defense has only seven INTs this season, but four have come in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. Slay is responsible for both of those late game INTs.
Power of the moment:Lions players have been making frequent appearances as Clutch Performers this season. All of their games have been decided by seven or fewer points, so late game heroics have been common. This is Slay's second clutch INT in the final minutes. His first was Carson Wentz's first INT. With the win against the Vikings, the Lions are now on top of the NFC North.
Elvis Dumervil, Baltimore Ravens
Strong stats to consider:
» Dumervil had a busy day. He recorded a sack, a QB hit, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
» The Ravens are 6-1 when they allow 20 points or less this season. They're 0-4 when they allow more than 20 points.
Power of the moment: With less than two minutes remaining and the Bengals in the red zone, Dumervil stripped the ball from Andy Dalton to lock up the win. The Ravens are now on top of the AFC North.
Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Strong stats to consider:
» Brady has 32 fourth quarter comebacks in his career. It's the most among active players. Brady's passer rating was 79.8 through the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter, it was 109.4.
» Brady tied Peyton Manning for most wins by a QB including playoffs. Brady reached this milestone in 263 games, 30 less games than it took Manning to reach that number.
Power of the moment: With just 2:00 left, Brady threw to rookie Malcolm Mitchell, who was covered by Darrelle Revis. Mitchell made good on the catch and brought in the score. Brady is 22-6 in his career against the Jets.
Follow Daniel Williams on Twitter _@danielwilliams_.
